


yurei

by alessandriana



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: (Reiko is not the ghost), Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Ghosts, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 06:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11984067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandriana/pseuds/alessandriana
Summary: Nyanko-sensei cracked an eyelid. "You sure you want to go to this?" he asked. "First night of Obon's when all the ghosts come out..."Natsume sighed. "Don't jinx it."





	yurei

**Author's Note:**

  * For [uumuu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/uumuu/gifts).



"--and I need to pick up incense for the altar, and food for the offerings, and-- oh, Takashi!" Touko stopped in her frenzied rush around the kitchen as Natsume came down the stairs, Nyanko-sensei at his heels. The phone dangled off her shoulder. "Are you leaving already?"

Natsume glanced reflexively at the clock. "I promised I'd meet Tanuma and Taki at the festival at seven, so we can shop some before the dancers start," he said. "Do you need me to do something first? I'm sure they won't mind."

"No, don't be silly, I just lost track of time." She came over and straightened his collar before he could react, gentle hands and warm familiar scent. "See? I told you we made the right choice. You look very handsome."

His cheeks heated up. "...Thank you." It was a brand new yukata, blue with white stripes. He'd tried to borrow one from Shigeru, reasoning that there was no point in wasting money, but he and Touko had insisted Natsume go shopping. The new fabric itched a little, but he would never dream of complaining.

"Now go on, go. Have a good time, and don't stay out _too_ late, alright?"

Natsume ducked his head to hide a smile. "I won't."

Several feet down the path, once no one was nearby, Nyanko-sensei cracked an eyelid. "You sure you want to go to this?" he asked. "First night of Obon's when all the ghosts come out..."  

Natsume sighed. "Don't jinx it."

Nyanko-sensei just grinned.

 

***

 

The dancing was beautiful, Natsume had to admit. The city had been practicing for weeks-- Obon was the second biggest holiday of the year, and many families had come back just for it. Lanterns lined the streets, to light the way of the visiting dead. It was also very, very crowded. Both humans and youkai lined the streets to watch the dancers pass by, fans flashing. After two hours, it was wearing on him.

"Are you alright, Natsume? You're looking a little pale." Tanuma peered at him worriedly, paused in the act of eating a skewer of mitarashi dango.

"I'm fine, thank you." Someone bumped into Natsume's back, the third time he'd been jostled in as many minutes, and he flinched. The humid summer air weighed him down."It's just... the crowd."

"It's getting to you, huh?" Taki smiled at him, eyes crinkling. "The fireworks are starting in half an hour-- why don't you go get us a seat on the hillside? We'll grab some drinks and come meet you."

Relief washed over Natsume. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Go," Tanuma said, with a flick of his wrist.

Natsume didn't need any more encouragement than that. He ducked his head in thanks and turned, weaving between people and youkai towards the edge of the crowds. Past the booths the crowd thinned out, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he found the path that lead up the hillside. There was an open clearing up there where the local castle had once stood, several hundred years before, and the one long remaining wall made the perfect spot to watch fireworks from. Not many people were willing to brave it, especially on Obon, as the legend of the murdered girl that haunted it still lingered; and Nyanko-sensei had disappeared a while back in search of sake, so Natsume climbed alone.

Maybe it was the holiday-- maybe it was all the youkai he'd seen that evening-- but Reiko was on his mind as he ascended the trail. Had she ever come up here to watch the Obon fireworks? It seemed like her kind of place.

He was about halfway up when the first firework went off. He turned, startled. It hadn't been anywhere near half an hour, and it wasn't even dark enough yet to set off fireworks; maybe something had gone wrong? "What--"

He had a moment of pure vertigo. The valley below him was doubled-- one scene overlaid above the next. In one, it was dusk. In the other it was full dark, and fireworks traced red and gold lines across the sky. Natsume staggered, reaching out for a nearby tree as his stomach roiled and he grew lightheaded. 

Something dark arced across the sky, barreling down on the festival. It was feathered, but much too large to be a bird. Then it rose again, carrying something white and struggling. It turned and began to swoop back towards the castle.

Natsume didn't have the strength to worry about what it might be. His knees refused to hold him, and he sank down next to the tree. His last thought before he passed out was, _Nyanko-sensei was right._

 

***

 

Natsume woke, head pounding. It took him a long moment to remember where he was, and what had happened. When he opened his eyes, grimacing, it was to the sight of the same tree he'd fallen under. Only... he thought it was smaller.

That couldn't be right. Maybe he'd forgotten. Maybe it was a different tree.

Natsume forced himself up despite the dizziness, and took in his surroundings. It was dusk still, the last red rim of sunset shining over the mountains to the west, so he couldn't have been out for too long. Things had gotten quiet, though. He couldn't hear the music from the festival anymore.

At first, there didn't seem to be anyone nearby. Then a low groan sounded. A female groan.

 _Taki?_ Natsume thought.

"...ow."

That was definitely not Taki. Natsume crouched behind the trunk of the tree just in case it was a youkai. 

There were pained noises for a minute, and then the sound of someone struggling to their feet, and saying softly to herself, "Okay, what the hell? Where am I?"

That... didn't sound like a youkai. Or if it was, it was a very human-sounding youkai. Natsume peeked carefully around the tree.

She was silhouetted against the light from the horizon: light brown hair, a little unkempt, wearing an old-fashioned sailor school uniform. Her amber eyes glowed where they caught the light. It took a moment for him to realize he actually recognized her.

"Nyanko-sensei?" he asked automatically.

She turned, squinting into the darkness. "Who's there?" she said sharply.

Natsume ducked back immediately. That was _not_ Nyanko-sensei, though he couldn't have said how he knew-- she looked and even sounded just like him transformed into human form. So who--?

The girl frowned, crossing her arms. Her voice was distinctly irritated when she said, "Don't try and hide, whoever you are. I know you're there. I heard you."

The realization hit him like a wave crashing over him. He went cold and dizzy all at once, and his hand grabbed so hard onto the tree he could feel the bark cutting into his skin. There was no way it was possible. But he found himself saying, "You--. You're Natsume Reiko-san. Aren't you?" 

 _Obon's when the ghosts come out._ But she was too solid to be a ghost. 

She tossed her hair. "That's Natsume Reiko- _sama_ to you," she said. "Who're you?"

Everything was the same. Exactly the same as he'd seen in the memories of a hundred youkai, except standing here, right in front of him. He resisted the wild urge to blurt out _your grandson_. This could be a trick. A shapeshifter youkai, perhaps. Or he could be dreaming, or hallucinating, or trapped in a memory, or, or-- or half a dozen other things.

The silence had gone on too long. She was beginning to grow impatient, foot tapping. "No one important," he said finally. His hands were trembling; he clenched them.

Reiko frowned harder. "Does _no one important_ have a name?"

"Takashi," he blurted. If this _weren't_ a trick--

\--he didn't know how to finish that sentence. If it weren't a trick, then what was it? Time travel? But if so, had he been brought into her time, or had she been brought into his? Or, he thought, looking around him once again-- at the forest, which was so much quieter, and the tree he'd been under, which was so much shorter, and the valley, which seemed so empty-- had both they been brought into some other time entirely? He knew some of the youkai dimensions operated in their own almost bubbles of time.

"Takashi." Her brows pulled together. "That's a very human name for a youkai."

 _For a youkai_ \--? It took Natsume a second to parse that. _She thinks I'm--_

Well, he was still lurking behind a tree. That wasn't exactly normal human behavior.

He opened his mouth to correct her, then stopped. Would it hurt to run with it? He knew Reiko from a hundred different memories. She was naturally suspicious. If he came out, blurting that he was her grandson, she'd never believe him. She'd think it was a trick. If he pretended to be a youkai, though... perhaps he could get closer. 

"Someone... gave it to me," he said. That had the benefit of even being true.

"Well, come out, Takashi. Stop lurking back there in the dark. Or are were you waiting until I let down my guard to try and eat me?" Her teeth flashed white. "Tell you what-- I'll even let you, if you can win a match with me."

In the dark, Natsume covered his face with his hands, horrified. "I don't want to eat you!" he exclaimed. This _had_ to be the real Reiko. The inflection of her words, the sharp edge of her grin were the same as he'd seen in a dozen memories.

"Really? Then why won't you come out?"

Natsume cast around him desperately; but there was nothing except trees nearby, and he didn't have any pockets-- there was nothing that could serve as a mask.

Resigned, he straightened. The dizziness had faded at least, and he only stumbled once. Reiko squinted; then her eyes widened as the last remnants of sunlight fell upon his face.

The youkai who always mistook him for Reiko weren't wrong; they really _did_ look alike. He braced himself for whatever she was about to say. 

"Madara!?"

Alright, that had _not_ been the reaction he'd been expecting. "...Ah, no." He added, on the off chance it might help, "He's a friend, though."

Reiko snorted. "Madara doesn't have _friends_ ," she said, disbelieving.

Natsume thought of long summer evenings sitting out on the porch while Nyanko-sensei hunted fireflies. Of the cat falling asleep on his chest making a noise that Nyanko-sensei would later claim was snoring, but to Natsume sounded an awful lot like a rusty purr. Of Madara, chasing away a hundred dangerous youkai and catching Natsume as he fell through the air.

He looked hard at Reiko, the only human in the world-- besides Takashi himself-- that Nyanko-sensei had ever spent time with, and saw she truly believed it.

"Did he say that?" he asked. 

She frowned, and didn't answer the question. "You're a shapeshifter, then."

"Um," he said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Better to change the subject. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are? I was waiting for the fireworks to start, and then I woke up here, and things seem..." he hesitated, searching for a word "...different." 

Reiko's expression narrowed. "Did everything go sort of doubled for a second?" she asked.

"Yes."

"That's what happened to me, too," she said. "And I don't know where we are, but I think I have an idea where to ask." She raised her arm to point over his shoulder. 

Turning, Natsume's jaw dropped. A great black castle jutted into the sky over the side a featureless stone wall, right where the ruins had been.

 

***

 

Running into your deceased grandmother, Natsume had to admit, made it very difficult to concentrate on other tasks. Like climbing.

The rock under Natsume's foot shifted and he yelped as he grabbed for a handhold, feeling the yawning void opening up underneath him. At the last minute, a strong hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hauled him upwards. Natsume scrambled until his feet found purchase again, grabbing onto the vines that draped over the walls. 

"Wow, are you bad at this," Reiko said frankly.

"You'll have to forgive me," Natsume said, fingers white with strain, "as I'm not used to _scaling castle walls_."

They'd spent several minutes searching for a gate, but there had been no visible way in or out of the castle grounds.

Reiko sniffed. "Please, it's only fifteen feet high." 

"If you say so," Natsume muttered, then felt immediately guilty. This was his _grandmother_. This was--

Reiko reached for another handhold, then yanked her hand back and stuck it in her mouth. "Fucking asshole! I hate thorns!"

Natsume coughed to cover a laugh, setting his foot carefully for the next step.

"Don't you have any cool youkai abilities?" Reiko asked, reaching for her next handhold more carefully this time. "Can't you, I dunno, fly or anything?"

Natsume shot her a look. "If I could fly, would I be climbing like this?" 

Reiko shrugged as best she could. "Youkai do weird things for fun sometimes," she said, which, granted, wasn't wrong. "Claws, though? Or tentacles? If you're a shapeshifter, you can make those, right?" 

"Um... no." Surreptitiously, Natsume wiped sweat off his forehead before reaching for another handhold. "Sorry."

"Are you sure? Because those would be _really useful_ right about now," Reiko growled, and practically ripped a vine from its roots as she hauled herself another foot upwards. A piece of rock bounced off Natsume's head and then fell to the ground far below.

"Believe me, if there was anything I could do right now to make this easier, I'd be doing it," Natsume said, shaking out his hair. He didn't think he was bleeding, at least. The next step looked a little iffy, so he tested it before putting his full weight on it.

"Hmph. And you're even getting out of breath with such a short climb. Not a very good youkai, are you?" she said, and climbed another few steps.

A smile tugged at Natsume's lips; he kept his head down so she wouldn't see. No, he wasn't particularly.

"You've... met many youkai then, have you?" he asked, greatly daring. It was as good of an opening as he was likely to get. He had so many questions, but at the same time he didn't want to scare her off.

Reiko's grin was only visible in profile. "Met... yeah, sure, I've _met_ lots of youkai." Her free hand drifted towards a suspicious lump under her jacket, before returning to the climb. Natsume's own waistpack bumped against his lower back, hidden by the folds of his yukata; thankfully she hadn't thought to ask what it was. He wasn't sure how the Book of Friends could exist in two places at once, but it certainly seemed to be doing so.

He hesitated before asking the next question. He didn't want to anger her. But while he knew so much about her interactions with youkai, he knew so very little about the rest of her life. "...What about humans?"

Reiko stopped climbing abruptly. "Excuse you?"

Natsume kept his face turned down, focused on the wall, no matter how much he wanted to look up and see her expression right now. He could imagine it, anyways. "Being able to see youkai... it must be lonely. Humans aren't very good at dealing with things they don't understand." 

The silence stretched. He risked a quick glance up. To his surprise, she didn't look angry, only surprised. And thoughtful. And a little bit sad. "You sound like you have some experience with that." 

Natsume didn't know how to answer that, so he didn't.

She waited for a second, then shrugged and resumed climbing. "Anyways, humans are jerks."

The smile slipped off Natsume's face.

After another few feet she added, "Well, most of them."

He wanted to press further, but at that moment she gave a glad cry and quickly disappeared over the top of the edge of the wall.

He scrambled up the last few feet, and was surprised to see a hand reaching out for him. He took it, and with a grin Reiko pulled him up. Her hand was warm in his.

 

***

 

The castle... well, the best word for it was that it _sprawled_. It seemed somehow even larger now that they were close to it, the stone wall that surrounded it stretching off on either side without an end in sight. Natsume had been up to the ruins a half dozen times, but he'd never realized the complex had been so big. The castle like so many others had been torn down during the Meiji Restoration, nothing left of the previous seats of power but stones scattered across the landscape.

Now from their perch on top of the wall, Natsume could see dozens of buildings crammed together in the complex, with barely enough space for two to walk side-by-side in between. But it was the main building that drew the eye. Perched upon a stone base like a bird in flight, it was five stories tall and pitch black, with roof gables swept out like wings. Natsume stood staring with his head tilted back, mouth open. It was beautiful, but also... a darkness seemed to reside there.

Even Reiko seemed stunned for a moment, rocking back on her heels. Then she seemed to shake herself.

"You're going to catch flies like that," she said, smacking him in the back of the head. Natsume's mouth snapped shut. Reiko paused, eyebrows raised. "Or is that how you eat?" 

Natsume's eyes went wide, and Reiko broke into peals of laughter. "You're so easy to tease!" Natsume rubbed the back of his head ruefully-- the blow had barely stung. 

From somewhere across the city came the sound of drums beating a steady rhythm. Reiko's laughter stopped abruptly. 

"What do you think is in there?" Natsume asked, voice hushed.

Reiko grinned, sharp. "Probably something that wants to eat us." She batted her eyes at Natsume. "But don't worry Takashi-kun, I'll protect you~ ...So long as you keep up." With that, she turned and began lowering herself down the wall.

Natsume shook his head. This was not quite how he'd thought this was going to go. Carefully, he began to make his way to the ground as well. At least _down_ was easier than _up_.

Once below the rooftops, all sight of the castle vanished, blocked by the buildings. A low mist swirled along the ground, and the air smelled like damp and mold. Reiko was a dozen yards ahead already-- Natsume hurried to catch up. Once out of sight of the wall, he found himself almost instantly turned around. The buildings had been built in no particular order, and the paths in between the buildings-- they couldn't really be called _streets_ \-- were curved and crooked, meandering this way and that. Without being able to see the castle, there was no way to tell what direction they were going. Reiko set out confidently, but Natsume was fairly sure she was making it up just as much as he was.

Slowly, though, the sound of distant music and drums grew louder. The tune was familiar, in an odd way-- like a variation on a song he'd heard a dozen times before. The occasional snatch of singing drifted over the walls, words unintelligible. Eventually he realized Reiko was following the sound.

Reiko was always a few steps ahead, so it was she who stumbled first onto the open square, just around a sharp corner. She stopped hard and Natsume only just kept himself from running face-first into her back.

"What--" he began, and Reiko grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back around the corner, slapping a hand over his mouth.

She stared at him meaningfully until he nodded, and she released him after a moment. Cautiously, they peered around the corner. 

The path opened up onto a large square, surrounded by what appeared to be various storefronts. Each window was lit with a lantern-- the first sign Natsume had seen that this might also be a place anyone lived in, rather than an elaborate trap.

The music grew louder and louder, and now a huge mass of youkai poured out of the street opposite, streaming into the square in a rush of life and light and noise. A huge ox youkai beat on a taiko drum in a steady rhythm. Crane youkai, elegant in yukata, played the shamisen. A youkai with the head of a biwa lute hopped by, playing, astonishingly, itself. And there were dozens of other youkai of every shape and size, dancing as they came, waving fans, all singing in unison,

 _Odoru ahou ni_  
_Miru ahou_  
_Onaji ahou nara  
_ _Odorana son, son_

 _Some fools dance,_  
_And some fools watch._  
_You're a fool either way,  
_ _So why not dance?_

 

Then someone in the front called out " _Hayaccha_ ," and the rest of the youkai roared back, " _Yaccha_!"

Under cover of the noise, Natsume turned wide eyes on Reiko. "Is this-- an Obon Festival?" A _youkai_ Obon Festival?

Reiko shrugged. "Well, it is Obon." She frowned past him, focused on something in the crowd. The youkai parade was moving down one of the other streets that led out of the square, but the crowd was so large that the edges were passing quite nearby. Thankfully they all seemed focused on their dancing, and hadn't noticed the two humans peeking around the corner.

Actually... on further thought, wasn't their intense focus a little abnormal? Everyone was participating in the dance-- there weren't any spectators, like there would be at a normal Obon. And looking at their faces, not a single one of them was smiling, or having the slightest bit of fun.

"Hah!" As the last of the youkai passed them, Reiko reached her arm out and snatched a white rabbit wearing a happi jacket from the crowd. It struggled as she bundled it around the corner, arm over its mouth.

"Let me go!" it said, muffled by Reiko's sleeve. "Matsue-sama is going to be so _angry_! I have to get back to the dance!"

"Oi, Getto, have you forgotten me already?" Reiko asked. 

Hearing its name, the rabbit stopped struggling. It blinked up at Reiko with wide red eyes. "Reiko-sama!" 

"You know this youkai?" Natsume asked. A small spot of warmth was glowing at his hip. _Getto._ He wondered if he flipped to the correct page, he'd find that name in the Book of Friends. 

The rabbit looked over, saw Natsume, and its eyes flew open so wide there was white on all sides. " _Two_ Reikos!" it exclaimed.  

Natsume sighed. "I'm not Reiko," he said, and only just remembered in time to avoid tacking on the usual addition to that phrase: _she's my grandmother, who is dead._

His very much not-dead grandmother shook the rabbit by its collar. "Come on Getto, stop freaking out. What is this place? Who's Matsue?"

The rabbit settled, and seeing that it wasn't going to run, Reiko set it down. It shivered, tucking its paws into its sleeves. "Matsue-sama lives in the castle!" it said. "She brings us here to dance for Obon. And we can't leave unless it's done perfectly."

"What happens if it _isn't_ done perfectly?" Natsume asked.

The rabbit shivered. "I told you, Matsue-sama gets mad! And bad things happen when Matsue-sama gets mad."

Reiko's expression, already irritated, turned dark. "...I see." She added, "How did you get here, anyways? Last I saw you were in Ohata."

The rabbit sniffled, rubbing its eyes. "I was just minding my own business when I was grabbed by Atagi, Matsue-sama's servant! The next thing I knew I found myself here. Atagi is the only one who can leave. He goes out to find more dancers." Its shoulders slumped. "Matsue-sama _always_ needs more dancers."

"What kind of youkai is Atagi?" Natsume asked, thinking of that bird-like creature he'd seen hovering over his Obon festival. Plucking something out of the crowd. 

"He's a tengu."

"I think I saw him, then. Back in my town." Natsume wondered which youkai he'd grabbed then. If it was anyone he knew. He dropped down on one knee, putting his hand on the rabbit's shoulder. He could feel it shivering under the thick fabric of its coat. "Getto, can you tell us where we can find Matsue-sama? We need to get home." It was getting dark. He wasn't sure how time worked here, but if he was out too late, the Fujiwaras would be worried about him.

"But it's _dangerous_ ," the rabbit wailed. "Atagi is strong, and Matsue-sama is even stronger!"

"What, are you telling me you think I can't take her?" Reiko asked, with a disturbing grin. 

Getto wiped away its tears. "Um..." At Reiko's glare, it yelped and said, "Take the second road to the right leading out of the square! And turn to the right every time it branches! That will take you directly to the castle. Every other way gets you lost."

" _Thank_ you." Reiko pushed the rabbit gently, and it fled towards the receding sound of the dancers, presumably to join them once again.

Natsume stood, and Reiko saw the expression on his face. "What're you smiling at?" she snapped.

"Ah... nothing," Natsume said. "I thought you didn't like youkai," he added.

"I _don't_ ," Reiko said, and stomped off in a huff.

Natsume tried to wipe the smile from his face, but the edges of his mouth kept tilting up.

_Reiko's a good person._

He'd always thought so, but... it was good to see it first-hand.

She was getting ahead. Hastily, he quickened his pace to catch up.

 

***

 

Getto's directions took them steadily closer to the castle. Natsume would have been sure of it even if he hadn't started being able to see it soaring over the walls; a dark presence radiated from within, seeming to grow closer with every step. It weighed on him, and he grimaced, recognizing the feeling. He hoped he wouldn't fall ill once this was all over.

Speaking of which... he glanced over at Reiko, who had been lost in thought ever since they had met up with the rabbit. "Are you doing okay?" he asked. 

"What?" She looked up, frowning.

"Don't... humans get ill from being around youkai too much?" he asked. 

She snorted. "Only the weak ones."

"...Ah."

Pondering that, he continued on.

Distracted by climbing the steep set of stairs they'd reached-- he thought the main tower of the castle had to be nearby-- Natsume didn't notice the feather that dropped from the sky to land on a step further up. But Reiko did, and she immediately thrust out a hand to stop him.

"What--"

A tengu dropped from the sky, wings and claws spread.

There was a moment of confusion. Natsume bolted up the stairs, out of the way; Reiko jumped back, but only far enough to grab a loose paving stone from the stair and heft it. It impacted the tengu's head with a solid thunk, and the tengu reeled back. Sensing weakness, Reiko wound up and punched it in the beak.

Stunned, Natsume stopped his headlong flight a few steps up and watched as Reiko brought the tengu to the ground, whipped out what was very _definitely_ the Book of Friends in her free hand, and forced the tengu to sign its name on a blank page. _Atagi,_ it wrote in shaky cursive.

"Um," he said, as he watched this scene play out. All told it had taken less than a minute.

"What?" Reiko snapped, flipping the book shut and storing it back in her jacket. The tengu whimpered softly, clutching the lump on its head. 

"...Never mind." It meant he'd have another name to return, but considering the circumstances-- and the size of the claws on the tengu-- he was fine for the moment.

"Let's keep moving, then."

Several staircases later, Natsume panted, "That book of yours."

"Yeah? What about it?" Reiko asked. 

 _You know that's a forbidden technique, right?_ It was one of the questions he'd always wanted an answer to. But... _the Book of Friends_ , she'd named it. What if she didn't know? Maybe she wouldn't care. But if she did-- if to her it really _was_ a book of friends-- Natsume didn't want to be the one to disillusion her.

(Then again, judging by the glee with which she'd defeated the tengu, maybe she meant it ironically. Who knew.)

"What do you use it for?" he settled on.

Reiko shrugged. "I don't _use_ it for anything," she said. "It's just a record, you know?" 

"Of youkai you've defeated?"

"Yeah, something like that." Reiko tossed her hair. "Why, do you want it? I'll let you have it if you can beat me~."

Natsume strangled a laugh. "Ah, no thank you. I really don't need it." His copy of the Book of Friends pressed warm against his spine. What would he even _do_ with two of them...? Not that he could beat her in the first place.

She gave him a strange look. Natsume didn't know how to interpret it. "Huh."

"What?" 

"You're a weird youkai, that's all." 

With that, Reiko picked up the pace, leaving both of them no breath for words.

 

***

 

They turned a corner, and the staircases ended abruptly in a huge wooden door set into the stone wall of the tower. They paused at the sight. Natsume leaned down to rest his hands on his knees, getting his breath back. Reiko was definitely in better shape than him.

"Do we... just go in?" Natsume panted.

Reiko scanned the building for another way in-- there wasn't any-- then shrugged, doubtful. "I guess?" She walked up and tried the handle; the door swung open silently.

A wave of miasma rolled out, thick and dark and choking. Dizzy, Natsume grabbed for the nearest support, which ended up being Reiko's shoulder. She shifted to support him without saying a word.

After a moment it lessened, and Natsume was able to pull away. She narrowed her eyes at him. But instead of commenting on his weakness, as he'd expected, she just said, "You're awfully warm, Takashi."

"I am?" Natsume checked himself automatically for a fever; he didn't think he had one quite yet, though if he spent much more time here it was likely. His head was pounding.

Reiko's expression went inexplicably even more closed off at that. "...Never mind," she said, and turned to enter the castle tower.

"Sorry," Natsume apologized to her back, not even sure what he was apologizing for.

"Don't be an idiot," she threw over her shoulder. 

The door led to a large room-- some kind of greeting room, Natsume thought, decorated lavishly but echoingly empty of inhabitants. The floors were wood, polished by years of use, and thick wood support pillars rose through the floor, carved with grinning faces. A staircase at the back led up.

The second floor was much the same, and the third. The fourth was blocked off into many smaller rooms, possibly bedrooms-- they did a cursory check of each, finding again rich decorations but no sign of residents, but finally found themselves back at the staircase.

"Think this is it?" Natsume asked. The dark presence was still overhead, but much closer now.

Reiko nodded, and started up.

On the fifth floor, an open balcony let moonlight and fresh air into the dark castle. Distantly, Natsume could hear the music of the Obon dancers filter up from the city, and see the lanterns below. 

"They dance so beautifully, don't they?"

With a shock, Natsume realized the fall of white cloth outside wasn't decoration, but was rather the fabric of a woman's kimono. Long black hair draped down her back. Her kimono, when she stood and turned to face them, was wrapped right over left. Her face although eerily beautiful was the color of rice paper, with dark shadows beneath her eyes. The lower half of her body faded away into invisibility.

He'd been expecting a youkai. "You're a ghost," Natsume blurted.

Matsue smiled, revealing a mouth full of shark teeth and brilliant red eyes. "You're very observant, _human_ ," she said.

Next to him, Reiko sucked in a breath. Natsume bit his lip; so much for his charade. But he couldn't worry about her reaction right now, or what her expression might look like-- not with Matsue looking at him like she wanted to eat him. He kept his eyes locked on the ghost.

"Is that why you're making them dance for you?" he asked, gesturing towards the music filtering up from the city. The Obon dances were held for the remembrance of the dead. "So someone will remember you?"

Matsue floated closer. "No one danced for me after I died," she said, voice dark and treacherous, like deep water. "They killed me and buried me under the castle as a sacrifice to keep it strong, and then they _forgot_ about me. So I tore the castle down, and I brought these pitiful little youkai here to dance for me instead. And now you're here to take them away, aren't you?" She smiled. "As if I'd let you."

She moved faster than thought across the room. Even Reiko wasn't fast enough to react. Natsume felt a clawed hand grab him around the throat and found himself dangling over the edge of the balcony in her strong grip, breath coming in wheezing gasps. Blood tricked down his neck where her claws pierced the skin. Natsume grabbed at her hands, not sure if he was trying to pry himself loose or hang on. It was a _very_ long way to the ground.

Matsue leaned in close. "What do you think would happen if I dropped you?" she crooned into his ear. "You would die, of course-- but would anyone care? Or would they forget you just like they forgot me? No one to clean your gravestone, no one to recite the sutras, to light the lanterns back home..."

Natsume felt like someone had filled his chest with ice. He'd wondered more than once when he'd been younger _what would happen when he died, when the youkai finally--_  Now all his old fears came crashing back, leaving him feeling cold and shaken.

But-- he remembered. Nyanko-sensei. The Fujiwaras. Tanuma, and Taki, and Natori-san-- Nishimura and Kitamoto-- he wasn't alone anymore. The ice receded, slowly. 

Then he caught sight of Reiko over Matsue's shoulder. She'd stopped, stricken. Her eyes met his, and he saw the truth of it on her face. She wasn't like Natsume-- she didn't have the Fujiwaras, or friends like Tanuma and Taki. She was certain she'd be forgotten when she died.

Releasing one hand from his death grip on Matsue's arm, Natsume reached into the bag at his side and pulled out his copy of the Book of Friends. He tossed it onto the balcony to land at Reiko's feet. It landed face up, and he saw her look of utter shock as she recognized it. 

"Reiko," he coughed. " _I_ remember you."

After that he had no more breath for talking. Darkness closed in around the corners of his vision. His hands loosened and dropped to his sides. His eyes closed. Nyanko-sensei wasn't there to catch him this time... 

Then he was on his knees, coughing desperately as the air flooded back into his lungs. Reiko's hand was fisted in his collar and Matsue was sprawled on the other side of the room, writhing in pain. He wasn't entirely clear what had happened in the intervening moments, but it had apparently involved violence. 

"You alright?" Reiko asked him, as his breathing gradually slowed. She was holding his copy of the Book of Friends in her free hand. 

 "I... think so," Natsume coughed. He could feel bruises blossoming up and down his throat. They'd be hard to explain in the morning. 

"Good." She shook him by the collar just like she'd done with the rabbit. "I _thought_ you were too weak to be a youkai. And you look way too much like me. Who the hell are you, _Takashi_?" 

Natsume began to laugh, interspersed every other breath with coughs. He reached back and grabbed her hand, tugging her down to the floor next to him. She allowed it, dropping to one knee. Her expression was furious, and heartbreaking, and it didn't change even as he dragged her into a hug. "--answer the damn question!"

"I'm so glad to finally meet you, grandmother," he said, and she stiffened, eyes going impossibly wide.

Across the room, Matsue cried black rage, dragging herself upright. Reiko broke away and stood, putting herself between Natsume and the ghost. "Begone!" Matsue shrieked, with a sweep of her hand.

Then the room started going-- weird. Natsume recognized the same doubling effect as earlier. He struggled to his feet. "Please, wait-- I'm not _done_ \--"

"Get _out_! Leave me _be_!"

Reiko grabbed Natsume by the arm and pulled him towards the stairs. "Come on, we need to go, now!" 

"But--"

"We're on the _fifth floor!_ " 

And in both of their times, Natsume realized, the castle didn't exist. He stopped fighting her and ran.

The fourth and third floors went by in a rush. By the time they reached the second Natsume nausea was building in his stomach as he tried to descend what appeared to be two staircases at once. On the first he could feel his feet slipping through the stair treads. Then they were on the ground floor, and Reiko was a bare ghost of light in front of him. He reached out his hand, and for a moment felt the brief touch of hers in return. 

Then she was gone. Natsume was left standing in the field where the castle had once been.

Across the clearing, a white youkai bounded off into the trees-- the one Atagi had grabbed earlier. 

 

***

 

"Oi, Natsume, I got ikayaki!-- wait, what the hell happened to you?" Nyanko-sensei stopped in front of the castle wall where Natsume had settled himself and was trying to patch up the cuts on his neck. At least he didn't think he'd gotten blood on his new yukata. 

"That's..." Natsume tried to think of a single way to explain what had happened, and came up empty, "...a long story."

"You ran into another youkai, didn't you! I told you so!" 

Natsume smiled. "A ghost, actually." More than one. 

"Even better." Nyanko-sensei hopped onto the wall next to Natsume, and Natsume gathered him into his lap. When he rubbed the youkai behind his ears, he made a rusty noise that definitely wasn't purring.

"Hey, Nyanko-sensei? Were you friends with Reiko?" he asked.

Nyanko-sensei looked up at Natsume out of the corner of his eye. " _Friends?_ Hmph." It was a considering noise. 

Down the hill, Natsume heard footsteps and talking. Tanuma and Taki's voices. He sat up a little straighter, trying to hide the disarray he was in. He felt sick, and shivery, but that was nothing new, and he wanted to watch the fireworks before he went home.

"I suppose," Nyanko-sensei said, as they came closer. A plastic bag of drinks dangled from Tanuma's wrist, and Taki had a container full of okonomiyaki that smelled delicious. "Something like that."

Natsume smiled and buried his face in Nyanko-sensei's fur. Tomorrow, he'd go buy some incense and grave offerings. He was sure the Fujiwaras wouldn't mind if he asked to add an extra place to their family shrine.

 


End file.
